The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has criticised President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration at the midpoint of its tenure, accusing the government of presiding over a period marked by economic hardship, broken promises, and deepening poverty for the Nigerian people.
In a statement commemorating the second anniversary of Tinubu’s presidency, NLC President Joe Ajaero said the economic reforms introduced since May 29, 2023, delivered “suffering rather than relief.”
“When President Bola Tinubu took office on May 29, 2023, he promised a new dawn, bold economic reforms that would rescue Nigeria from fiscal instability and set it on a path to prosperity,” Ajaero stated. “But two years later, the only thing bolder than his rhetoric is the magnitude of suffering and hardship his policies have inflicted on workers and ordinary Nigerians.”
The Labour leader condemned the controversial removal of the petrol subsidy, describing it as a move that triggered a wave of economic hardship without sufficient measures to protect vulnerable citizens.
“The sudden removal of the petrol subsidy sent shockwaves through an already fragile economy, causing fuel prices to skyrocket from N187 to over N600 per litre overnight,” Ajaero said. “The government claimed it was a necessary sacrifice to free up funds for development, but where are the results?”
According to the NLC, the consequences have been dire: food inflation has surged, transport costs have soared, businesses are shutting down, and the naira has depreciated sharply, further straining an economy heavily reliant on imports. Ajaero accused the administration of recycling “failed neoliberal experiments” that have historically widened inequality and entrenched poverty.
“These same policies under past administrations only widened inequality, enriched a few, and left the majority poorer. Tinubu’s version is no different, except the suffering is deeper, the anger louder, and the government’s response more brutal,” he remarked.
On the plight of workers, the union leader said real incomes have collapsed, with pensioners and small businesses among the hardest hit. He noted that wage award arrears remain unpaid and that inflation in production inputs has risen by over 150 percent.
“Nigerian workers have seen their real wages obliterated…150 million Nigerians are now multi-dimensionally poor,” Ajaero lamented.
The NLC also decried what it described as an erosion of labour rights under the current administration. It accused the government of responding to peaceful union protests with repression and of abandoning promised dialogue in favour of intimidation.
“Promised dialogue with Labour unions has been replaced with intimidation and violence. Workers demanding a living wage are met with batons and threats, while the government wallows in luxury,” the statement read. “The same officials who preach sacrifice travel in convoys, feast on bloated budgets, and treat public funds like personal piggy banks.”
The union further warned that the ongoing economic crisis is compounded by a deteriorating security situation across the country. Ajaero pointed to the growing threat of mass kidnappings, banditry, and insurgency, which he said had rendered policy conversations “almost absurd.”
“In any case, in the surreal landscape of a nation grappling with escalating insecurity, discussing the intricacies of economic policy seems akin to debating the colour of curtains in a burning house,” Ajaero stated. “Our nation is at war.”
The NLC president called for an urgent shift in policy direction, warning that continued adherence to current economic strategies would only deepen the suffering of the masses.
“The truth is simple: reforms that bring only pain without gain are not reforms at all. They are deformations—deliberate assaults on the poor in service of a system that rewards the powerful,” Ajaero said. “If this government truly wants to renew hope, it must abandon these cruel experiments, listen to the people, and chart a new course.”
